The sperm penetration test, also customarily referred to as the "cervical mucus penetration test", is in widespread use as a means of evaluating the interaction between the sperm and cervical mucus in determining fertility. Sperm penetration is subjectively measured either by testing the female partner's cervical mucus collected after actual intercourse (the post-coital test) or by adding sperm in vitro to previously collected cervical mucus.
As disclosed in a publication of Serono Diagnostics of Braintree, Mass., dated June, 1985, the interaction between sperm and cervical mucus can be tested by placing a pair of flat capillary tubes into a freshly collected sample of semen. After approximately ninety minutes, the penetration into the mucus is measured using a phase contrast or light microscope. In Clin. Exp. Immunol. (1976), 23, 189 there is disclosed a capillary mucus penetration test in which a slide is placed horizontally in a moist or humid chamber with a semen container placed on top of the slide in communication with a capillary tube containing cervical mucus. This test is discussed in Fertility and Sterility, Volume 36, No. 3, September, 1981 on page 364 of an article entitled "Penetration of Human Ejaculated Spermatozoa into Human and Bovine Cervical Mucus".
Another type of sperm penetration test, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,402,614 to A. Porath-Furedi wherein a slide construction is utilized in combination with an optical magnifier, the slide having a pair of transparent plates separated by plastic beads with the sperm sample deposited in the spaces between the beads so that movement of the sperm can be measured by an optical connector.
There are decided drawbacks in measuring sperm by the methods discussed, particularly those which require handling of the capillary tubes or other measuring devices and increase the possibility of transmission of disease. It is therefore desirable to provide a flat, transparent slide containing one or more capillary channels which will permit the introduction of a medium, such as, cervical mucus into the channel so as to interface with a liquid containing penetrating cells such as semen, to be placed at one end of the channel without user contact of the tested materials yet facilitates accurate measurement of the degree or distance of penetration of the sperm sample through the mucus-filled channel(s).